The Tech Tour Growth50 2026 Listing Spotlights the Scale-ups Building Europe’s Next Era of Sovereign, Industrial-grade Innovation
This year’s Growth50 companies historically raised an impressive €6.8 Billion (or €135.4 Million on average per company), of which 80% was raised just in the past 4 years, demonstrating the momentum of the Listing’s companies.
Today, Tech Tour announced the 2026 edition of the Tech Tour Growth50 Listing, highlighting Europe’s new generation of strategic tech champions and a prospect list of future European unicorns, as selected by the continent’s leading growth investors. Now in its twentieth year, the Listing showcases scale-up companies building the core digital, health, and sustainability technologies that will define Europe’s competitiveness and resilience in the decade ahead. The 2026 cohort is distinctly deep-tech-driven, reflecting strong investor conviction in companies translating scientific excellence into large-scale commercial impact. (See the Tech Tour Growth50 List below, full report here.)
Europe’s Deeptech Potential Takes Center Stage
Thе 2026 Growth50 Listing was shaped by a panel of more than 70 leading growth investors, who jointly nominated and voted on the selected companies. The Programme is presided by Falk Mueller-Veerse of Stifel, with sector leadership provided by Philippe Laval of Jolt Capital (Digital), Remy de Tonnac of ETF Partners (Sustainability), and Sebastien Woynar of LBO France (Health).
“In recent years, we have seen primarily US companies that have attracted investments in a global market in an almost unlimited amount. Nevertheless, this year’s Tech TourGrowth50 list impressively shows that international investors are also looking very specifically at Europe and its often global category leaders. We see a remarkable number of highly innovative European technology companies that continue to raise funding from increasingly selective investors,“ Falk Mueller-Veerse said. “Almost half of this year’s Top 50 companies have been on the list before. Thus, it is increasingly becoming a ‘the winner takes it all‘ situation in various industry sectors.“
– Falk Mueller-Veerse, Stifel, President, 2026 Tech Tour Growth 50 Europe
Analysis of the Growth50 List and underlying data [see report] highlights several positive trends and offers valuable insights into the state of European technology entrepreneurship and investment:
Deeptech is no longer niche — it is Europe’s primary scale-up engine: The 2026 Growth50 is decisively deep-tech-led, with a concentration in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, photonics, quantum, robotics, space and energy systems — signaling that investors increasingly see science-driven companies as Europe’s most credible path to global category leadership.
A more selective funding environment: The cohort has collectively raised €6.8 billion to date (€135.5 million on average per company), with 80% of total funding secured over the past four years. While aggregate funding levels return closer to those observed in 2024, the concentration of recent capital highlights a more selective investment environment and sustained investor conviction in scale-ups with clear paths to category leadership and future unicorn outcomes.
Europe is building strategic tech, not just venture-scale software: Across Digital, Health and Sustainability, the selected companies are addressing foundational capabilities — trusted AI, resilient supply chains, sovereign data, energy security and climate resilience — positioning technology as critical infrastructure, rather than discretionary innovation.
Sovereign and public investors remain central to Europe’s scale-up financing: European public and sovereign institutions continue to play a pivotal role in the 2026 Growth50 Listing, led by the European Innovation Council (21 companies) and supported by the European Investment Bank and national development agencies, underscoring Europe’s sustained commitment to scaling strategically important technologies across deep tech, sustainability and health.
Photonics, semiconductors and compute form a visible investment cluster: Multiple companies in the Listing operate across the photonics and semiconductor value chain, highlighting strong investor confidence that Europe can play a decisive role in the hardware layer underpinning AI, connectivity and next-generation computing.
Investor conviction clusters around long-term platforms, not short-term cycles: Across sectors, the 2026 Growth50 reflects investor preference for companies with long product cycles, high barriers to entry and structural relevance — indicating confidence in durable value creation, despite macroeconomic uncertainty.
The Growth50 companies will convene in Paris on March 17, 2026, for the Tech Tour Growth50 Europe Summit, alongside the members of the Selection Panel investor community. The event is organised by Tech Tour and co-hosted by EuroQuity Bpifrance, as part of European Deeptech Week, with support from partners Stifel, Jolt Capital, Silverpeak, Switzerland Global Enterprise, the EIC Scaling Club and Dealroom. The three winners of the 2026 Tech Tour Growth Awards — across Digital, Sustainability and Health — will be announced during the Awards Dinner.
For further information, please check Tech Tour Growth50 Europe 2026 or contact:
Maya Filadska maya@techtour.com
Mariela Mihaylova mariela@techtour.com
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